Trained as an architect in Glasgow, Bone had become an internationally renowned printmaker of cityscapes by September 1916, when he was assigned to the western front as the first official British War Artist. The year before, he executed this nocturnal wartime view of one of London’s most celebrated public spaces, Piccadilly Circus. Basing the print on an earlier drawing, Bone dramatically altered the lighting to evoke the blackout conditions necessitated by German air raids on London, which began in January 1915. Searchlights pierce the inky black sky while shrouded streetlamps disperse eerie shadows throughout the bustling crowd.